Son Gets Mitchell-Lama Apartment

(Decision submitted by David Hershey-Webb of the Manhattan law firm of Himmelstein, McConnell, Gribben, Donoghue & Joseph, who represented the tenant.)

Landlord Southbridge Towers, Inc. rejected the application of Mitchell-Lama tenants' son for succession rights to tenants' apartment after tenant moved out. The son appealed to the DHCR and lost. The son then filed an Article 78 court appeal, claiming that the DHCR's decision was unreasonable. The court and appeals court ruled for the son. There was ample proof that the son lived in the apartment with tenants, who were his parents, as a primary residence during 1998 and 1999, the two years immediately before tenants permanently vacated. The DHCR had ruled against the son solely on the grounds that no annual income affidavits were filed in 1998 and 1999. Although Mitchell-Lama regulation required tenants to file annual income affidavits and list any occupant family member who sought succession rights, their failure to do so wasn't fatal. Tenants offered an excuse for not filing, and the son submitted many other documents proving that he did live in the apartment for the required two-year period before tenants moved out.

Murphy v. DHCR: 2012 NY Slip Op 00115 (App. Div. 1 Dept.; 1/12/12; Mazzarelli, JP, Andrias, Saxe, Freedman, Roman, JJ)